


The Kitchen Table

by LilAnnieSunshine



Series: SasuSaku Month 2020 [8]
Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Domestic, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family, Growing Up, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:49:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25193455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilAnnieSunshine/pseuds/LilAnnieSunshine
Summary: Sakura Haruno, Age 7"The table, like the rest of their apartment is cramped. Sakura has lost count of all of the times she’s accidentally knocked something off of the table only to be scolded by her mother.She’s the smallest. She eats the least. She’s crammed into the seat by the wall. She hates it."Sasuke Uchiha, Age 7"Mother cooks a delicious, healthy meal and places it on the table before sitting down herself. It fits perfectly on the table. Sasuke can have as much as he wants. He’s encouraged to eat until he’s full, but not to stuff his face, to help his growth.It’s his second favorite part of the day, next to training with Itachi."How the simple symbol of a kitchen table changed meaning for Sakura and Sasuke over the years.Written for SasuSaku month day 9 "Around the Table"
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke
Series: SasuSaku Month 2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1812370
Comments: 14
Kudos: 71





	The Kitchen Table

_Sakura Haruno, Age 7_

Their apartment is small. They live in an upper unit with the bakery downstairs. They have two bedrooms and a single bathroom. Sakura is jealous of all her friends that get to live in a big house, or compound, or district, with the rest of their clans. It’s just her and mom and dad in the unit.

Her parents always make an effort to eat dinner with her, even if usually only one of them can sneak away for lunch. The table, like the rest of their apartment is cramped. Sakura has lost count of all of the times she’s accidentally knocked something off of the table only to be scolded by her mother.

She’s the smallest. She eats the least. She’s crammed into the seat by the wall. She hates it.

_Sasuke Uchiha, Age 7_

His home is large, but Spartan. The only decoration is affects personal to the clan. He, Itachi, and his parents have their own bedrooms. There are three bathrooms in the house, one downstairs, one Itachi and Sasuke share, and one in the master bedroom. To Sasuke, it’s perfect.

Family dinners are a tradition, although recently Itachi has been away on missions. Mother cooks a delicious, healthy meal and places it on the table before sitting down herself. It fits perfectly on the table. Sasuke can have as much as he wants. He’s encouraged to eat until he’s full, but not to stuff his face, to help his growth.

It’s his second favorite part of the day, next to training with Itachi.

_Sakura Haruno, Age 12_

It’s been two years since Mom has made lunch for her, she says Sakura needs to learn how to take care of herself. Dad will still do it if they’re home alone, although his choices tend to be less diet-conscious and more comforting. Sakura can’t eat like that anymore, she’s not a kid, so she makes her own lunch.

Her parents work longer hours in the bakery since she’s older and doesn’t need much supervision.

She eats lunch alone at the table. It’s not cramped when she sits alone, but she dreads the thought of all three of them eating dinner on it.

She was never comfortable being crammed into the spot by the wall, and since she hit a growth spurt, she’s even more cramped.

At night, she gently eases herself in, trying not to knock anything over. She’s careful about her portion sizes while her parents shovel food onto their plates.

Her mother asks her “Is that all you’re going to eat?” in one breath and comments on her baby fat in another.

Her dad assures her she’s cute. Then he makes a bad pun. Both of her parents laugh. She cringes.

As a Leaf Village genin she could technically live on her own, she’s considered an adult in many respects because of her rank. Living alone is sounding better and better.

_Sasuke Uchiha, Age 12_

It’s been five years since Mother made lunch for him, five years since her death. He makes his own lunch, just as nutritious as Mother used to make, but it never tastes as good.

He sits down at the table to eat it. The table is too big for him alone, it makes no sense for single person to need such a big table, but he eats there anyway.

He’s long sense gone deaf to the sounds of his silent house, his parents and brother were private people, but eating at an empty table is something that still makes him feel strange no matter how much he does it.

He eats lunch, a meal he used to share with classmates or with his mother, or with his whole family, alone.

At night he eats dinner alone. He doesn’t want for company. There isn’t anyone alive that can fill the emptiness at the table or in is life.

_Sakura Haruno, Age 15_

Her Mom has started making lunch for her again. Maybe it’s because she sees Sakura maturing, maybe it’s because Sakura’s missions are taking up more of her time, either way, Mom is missing her little girl.

Sakura is more appreciative of family dinners now that they’ve become fewer. More frequently she’s being asked to get ramen with Naruto, or barbeque with Ino, or she’s stuck eating cafeteria food at the hospital, or she’s away on a mission.

The space and freedom makes her feel less trapped during family dinners, even if sitting by the wall hasn’t gotten any less cramped. It won’t be like this forever, it’s a thought both relieves and terrifies Sakura.

_Sasuke Uchiha, Age 15_

Spartan is the only way that can describe Sasuke’s room in Orochimaru’s hideout. He has no decoration, the only Uchiha affects are those sewn onto his clothes or the ones he uses as ninja tools.

He has a small table. It can hold one plate, one glass, and one small bowl. It’s perfect for one person. It’s all he needs until the day he can kill Itachi and restore his clan.

_Sakura Haruno, age 19_

Her apartment is small, or she should say _their_ apartment. Sasuke had returned after his long journey. They had been in somewhat of a relationship the day he left, and they kept in contact, but things really heated up when he was back in the village.

Some people said they were taking things too fast, they had only been physically together for a few months before he started moving some of his things in.

It had been small things at first, a toothbrush, a pair of socks that he left and never took back home, then it was several pairs of clothes. Finally, he started sleeping at her apartment a lot more often that his own home.

Maybe it seemed like they were moving too fast, but she had loved him most of her life.

She knew he’d never admit it, but he was lonely and touch starved and craved her attention. What he did admit was that he always appreciated everything she did for him and he never said it enough.

He was out getting takeout, which they would eat at her tiny kitchen table that she thought might actually be more cramped than the one she grew up with.

They ate together, talking about their days and making plans for the future. Sakura nearly flips the whole thing in surprise when Sasuke asks her _the_ question. They’re going to need a bigger table.

_Sasuke Uchiha, age 19_

Her apartment, or _their_ apartment, as he liked to think of it, was small, cozy.

He found after years of longing for her and only being in communication via writing, made him less inclined to want to return to an empty house.

Maybe he grew up there, maybe it was full of fond memories, but it was also the place where his family was killed and he used to live _alone_.

He’d rather be with someone. He’d rather be with her. He left things in the apartment by accident but found there was no point in moving them. He was sleeping over more often than he was sleeping alone, his toothbrush should live in the place where he spent the most time.

He got their dinner, pork cutlet bowls and lots of syrupy-sweet dumplings for desert. He surprised he can cook better than her. He’s giving her lessons. He puts it down on the tiny, cheap kitchen table and asks her about her day. 

He could listen to her talk about all of the incredible things she’s doing at the hospital forever, but he doesn’t have the time tonight.

_“Will you marry me?”_

She nearly knocks over the table in shock.

He chuckles, catching table before their food falls to he floor. They’re going to need a bigger table, sturdier too, if their family is going to grow.

_Sakura Uchiha, age 22_

Their apartment is cozy, bigger than her family’s growing up, but still small. It’s perfect for their growing family. Sarada toddles along, walking just about anywhere her little legs can carry her.

Their table is bigger too, built for a family of four, rather than two adults and an eighteen-month-old who still needed to eat in a highchair. It’s an investment in their future.

Sakura makes chicken teriyaki that night, her cooking skills have gotten a little better with Sasuke’s help. She cuts up the chicken and vegetables into little pieces and puts them on Sarada’s tray before calling Sasuke for dinner.

He picks up their little girl and places her in the high chair, kissing her on the head.

Sakura asks for a kiss as well.

Sasuke blushes, not wanting to kiss in front of their daughter.

Sakura rolls her eyes and tells him Sarada won’t even remember.

They sit down and eat. Sarada throws food. Sakura tries not to let it bother her. One day Sarada will be old enough to sit at the table and then she’ll miss these days.

_Sasuke Uchiha, Age 22_

Their apartment is much smaller than the house Sasuke grew up in, but it was bigger than their last place, so he’s more comfortable.

Sarada is determined to explore every inch of it. He watches her, proud as a peacock as she interacts with her surroundings. She walked before the idiot’s son, which is something he enjoyed pointing out in conversation with Naruto.

Sakura calls him for dinner and he sits down, putting Sarada in her highchair and kissing her.

His wife asks for a kiss, he declines. He’ll make it up to her tonight.

He looks at the empty spaces at the table. One day it will be full, as full as his heart is looking at his growing family.

_Sakura Uchiha, age 26_

Sarada is asking about her Papa again. Sakura does her best to comfort her, reminding Sarada that Sasuke loves them both very much.

Sarada is old enough to sit at the kitchen table like a big girl. How Sakura wishes Sasuke could see it.

She looks at the two the empty chairs around the table and knows Sarada notices them too, at least one should be filled by Sarada’s Papa.

_“Let’s go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner.”_ Sakura suggests.

Sarada’s eyes light up. She knows whatever Grandpa is making will be delicious and fried until it’s golden brown.

_Sasuke Uchiha, 26_

He’s eating alone again. At a bar. In some back ally. In some backwater town in one of the smaller nations.

He’s not afraid, he’s stronger than everyone in joint. The place looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in twenty years, but it’s the perfect place to get information. First, he has to choke down his dinner. He finds it’s even worse than Sakura’s cooking before he helped her.

_Sakura._ He wondered what his wife and child were up to. Her last letter said Sarada entered the academy.

Sakura insisted they give her a choice in her future, like Sakura’s parents had given her. They weren’t sure what to make of their little girl coming home and saying she made friends with a girl named Ino whose father was a ninja, but they let her enroll in the academy instead of telling her she’d be a baker.

Sasuke never had any choice in the matter. He would be a ninja. He would join the police force. That was final. At least that’s what he wanted at the time.

A large, gruff looking man sat next to Sasuke. How he wished he seated at his family’s kitchen table instead of at a dirty bar.

_Sakura Uchiha, Age 32_

Her husband is finally home. He and Sarada talk cautiously to each other at the kitchen table, over a meal Sakura prepared.

She’s sitting there to play mediator. She’s an expert in all things Sasuke. She’s an expert in all things Sarada. She’s here to help them find common ground.

It hurts that her daughter knows so little about Sasuke and vice versa. She’s listened to Sarada call out for Papa every day for nine years. She knows Sasuke’s heart was probably calling out for his family as well.

In the end, Sasuke holds Sarada close, pokes her on the forehead and sends her to bed.

_Sasuke Uchiha, Age 32_

He’s home. He’s with his wife and child. His daughter is a stranger, more like he’s the stranger, she’s just a little girl. They eat and talk. He walks on eggshells, he wants the girl to like him, to love him.

Sakura is there, trying to lead them to things they have in common. Sasuke wants to tell them everything. He has nine years to make up for, but much of it is confidential, and he can’t fill in the blanks for them.

In the end, Sarada welcomes him home, calls him “Papa,” and takes herself to bed, giving her parents a chance to reconnect around the kitchen table.


End file.
